The Potential Podcast!

Chris and Taylor review the musical fantasy film, Wonka, directed by Paul King, who co-wrote the screenplay with Simon Farnaby, based on a story by King. It tells the origin story of Willy Wonka, a character in the 1964 novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, featuring his early days as a chocolatier. The film stars Timothée Chalamet in the title role and an ensemble cast including...

Chris and Taylor review the christmas fantasy comedy film, Dashing Through the Snow,  directed by Tim Story, written by Scott Rosenberg. In the film, after a traumatic experience, Eddie Garrick, a social worker, no longer believes in the magic of Christmas. At the request of his estranged wife, he brings his daughter Charlotte to work where a magical adventure begins for them. The film stars Lil R...

Chris and Taylor review season 2 of the christmas comedy television series, The Santa Clauses, created by Jack Burditt for Disney+ and based on The Santa Clause film series. In this season, the Calvin family is back at the North Pole, as Scott Calvin continues his role as Santa Claus after his retirement plans were thwarted when he failed to find a successor; now that Christmas has been saved, Sco...

Spoiler Warning!  Chris and Taylor review the second season of the Marvel/Disney+ series Loki created by Michael Waldron.  After dealing with He Who Remains, Loki and his closest allies must work together to stop the TVA from being destroyed.  The series stars Tom Hiddleston, Owen Wilson, Gugu Mbratha-Raw, Wunmi Mosaku, Tara Strong, Eugene Cordero, Sophia Di Martino, Jonathan Majors, Rafael Casal,...

Chris and Taylor review the japanese kaiju Godzilla Minus One (Japanese: ゴジラ-1.0マイナスワン, Hepburn: Gojira Mainasu Wan ) directed, written, and with visual effects by Takashi Yamazaki. Produced by Toho Studios and Robot Communications and distributed by Toho, it is the 37th film in the Godzilla franchise, Toho's 33rd Godzilla film, and the fifth film in the franchise's Reiwa era. In the film...

The holidays are upon us! Chris and Taylor go back to a holidays 80s classic (yes this is a Christmas movie) and review the 1987 buddy cop action film Lethal Weapon directed and co-produced by Richard Donner, written by Shane Black, and co-produced by Joel Silver. It stars Mel Gibson and Danny Glover alongside Gary Busey, Tom Atkins, Darlene Love, and Mitchell Ryan. In Lethal Weapon , a pair of mi...

Spoiler Review! Chris and Taylor review the action-adventure game Marvel's Spider-Man 2 which developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It is based on the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man. It is the third entry in the Marvel's Spider-Man series, acting as a sequel to Marvel's Spider-Man (2018) and a follow-up to Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales (2020). In th...

Chris and Taylor review the dystopian action film, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, directed by Francis Lawrence from a screenplay by Michael Lesslie and Michael Arndt. Based on the 2020 novel The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins, it serves as a prequel to The Hunger Games (2012), and is the fifth installment in The Hunger Games film series. Set 64 years bef...

Chris and Taylor review the historical drama film  Napoleon written by David Scarpa and directed by Ridley Scott.  The film primarily depicts the French leader Napoleon Bonaparte's rise to power, his military conquests, as well as his relationship with Empress Joséphine.  The film stars Joaquin Phoenix, Vanessa Kirby, Tahar Rahim, Rupert Everett, Ben Miles, Ludivine Sagnier, Matthew Needham, John...

Spoiler Warning!  Chris and Taylor review the supernatural comedy horror series  Goosebumps developed by Rob Letterman and Nicolas Stoller.  Based on the book series by R.L. Stine, a group of five high schoolers embark on a shadowy and twisted journey to investigate the tragic passing three decades earlier of a teen named Harold Biddle - while also unearthing dark secrets from their parents' past....

Chris and Taylor review the comedy film, Please Don't Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain, directed by Paul Briganti, produced by Judd Apatow and Jimmy Miller, and written by and starring the comedy troupe Please Don't Destroy. In the film, a fictionalized version of the group searches for a lost treasure that they had initially been searching for as kids. The film stars Martin Herlihy, John H...

Chris and Taylor are back from a nice thanksgiving break with a second helping! Here they review the slasher film, Thanksgiving , directed by Eli Roth, from a screenplay written by Jeff Rendell and a story by Roth and Rendell, who produced with Roger Birnbaum. In the film, an axe-wielding maniac terrorizes residents of Plymouth, Mass., after a Black Friday riot ends in tragedy. Picking off victims...

Spoiler Warning!  Chris and Taylor review the superhero television series  Gen V developed by Craig Rosenberg, Evan Goldberg, and Eric Kripke.  Serving as a spin-off of  The Boys , the show follows a group of young adult superheroes at Godolkin University who put their moral boundaries to the test by competing for the university's top ranking and a chance to join The Seven.  When the school's dark...

Chris and Taylor review the action thriller film  The Killer written by Andrew Kevin Walker and directed by David Fincher.  Based on the French graphic novel of the same name by Alexis "Matz" Nolent, the film follows an assassin who gets embroiled in an international manhunt after a hit goes wrong.  The film stars Michael Fassbender, Tilda Swinton, Charles Parnell, Arliss Howard, Kerry O'Malley, S...

Chris and Taylor review the western crime drama film, Killers of the Flower Moon, directed by Martin Scorsese from a screenplay he co-wrote with Eric Roth, based on the 2017 non-fiction book of the same name by David Grann. Set in 1920s Oklahoma, it focuses on a series of murders of Osage members and relations in the Osage Nation after oil was discovered on tribal land. Tribal members had retained...

Chris reviews the latest Nintendo Switch platform game Super Mario Bros. Wonder developed and published by Nintendo with direction by Shiro Mouri.  Mario and his friends must traverse different lands within the Flower Kingdom to help collect Wonder Seeds to stop Bowser from unleashing his devious plan.  Chris discusses game mechanics, power-ups, design, music, and the overall creativity of this la...

Chris and Taylor review the action-adventure game, Assassin's Creed Mirage, which developed by Ubisoft Bordeaux and published by Ubisoft. The game is the thirteenth major installment in the Assassin's Creed series and the successor to 2020's Assassin's Creed Valhalla . While its historical timeframe precedes that of Valhalla , its modern-day framing story succeeds Valhalla 's own. Set in 9th-centu...

Taylor reviews the biographical comedy-drama film, Dumb Money, directed by Craig Gillespie and written by Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo. It is based on the 2021 book The Antisocial Network by Ben Mezrich and chronicles the GameStop short squeeze of January 2021. The film features an ensemble cast that includes Paul Dano, Pete Davidson, Vincent D'Onofrio, America Ferrera, Nick Offerman, An...

Chris and Taylor review season 2 of the period romantic comedy television series, Our Flag Means Death, created by David Jenkins. In the season, Stede and Ed attempt to mend their romance, Izzy Hands begins to crack his hardened exterior and the Revenge crew is reunited once and for all. The series stars Rhys Darby, Taika Watiti, Con O'Neill, Ewen Bremner, Joel Fry, Samson Kayo, Nathan Foad, Vico...

Chris and Taylor review the supernatural horror film Five Nights at Freddy's, based on the video game series and franchise of the same name created by Scott Cawthon. Directed by Emma Tammi, who co-wrote the screenplay with Cawthon and Seth Cuddeback, from a story by Cawthon, Chris Lee Hill, and Tyler MacIntyre, the film stars a troubled security guard who accepts a night-time job at an abandoned f...

Chris reviews the concert film  Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour directed by Sam Wrench and produced by Taylor Swift.  The film is a "cinematic rendering" of the Eras Tour, the sixth headlining concert tour by singer-songwriter Taylor Swift.  It represents Swift's discography conceptually in 10 different acts with dazzling production, spectacle, energy, direction, and Swift's artistry and showmanship....

Chris and Taylor review the epic sci-fi action thriller, The Creator, a film produced and directed by Gareth Edwards, who co-wrote the screenplay with Chris Weitz. Set in 2070, 15 years after a nuclear detonation in Los Angeles and a war against artificial intelligence, an ex-special forces agent is recruited to hunt down and kill the "Creator," who has developed a mysterious weapon with the power...

Chris and Taylor review the Netflix comedy film  Old Dads written by Bill Burr and Ben Tishler with Bill Burr making his directorial debut.  The film follows three men who after selling their business, find themselves out of step with the modern world.  The film stars Bill Burr, Bobby Cannavale, Bokeem Woodbine, Katie Aselton, Reign Edwards, Jackie Tohn, Miles Robbins and Rachael Harris. Follow us...

Chris and Taylor review the gothic horror drama television miniseries, The Fall of the House of Usher, created by Mike Flanagan. Loosely based on the short story of the same name and other works by Edgar Allan Poe, it premiered on Netflix. In the series, the CEO of a corrupt pharmaceutical company faces his questionable past when his children start dying in mysterious and brutal ways. The series s...

Chris and Taylor review the supernatural horror film  The Exorcist: Believer written by Peter Sattler and David Gordon Green with direction by Green.  A widower must confront the nadir of evil when his daughter and her best friend are possessed.  The film stars Leslie Odom Jr., Lidya Jewett, Olivia O'Neill, Jennifer Nettles, Norbert Leo Butz, Ann Dowd, Raphael Sbarge, Okwui Okpokwasili and Ellen B...